I'm officially resigning from the vintage sewing machine club.
 

I realized I do not really want to repair and refurbish vintage machines, I would much rather be sewing. This could also be due to the fact that some of the machines I have invested time and money in have turned out to be more trouble than they were worth. I have rehomed a Singer 301A, a Singer 99, a Singer Spartan and a Singer 15-19, all of which needed work, within the last couple of weeks.

I do have a Singer 401A that I am keeping for a friend and when she gave me that machine, she made me swear I would never sell it or give it away. I will occassionally use and oil Ms. Elsie, as she is known, until my friend has room for her again.

I hope you all have fun with all the vintage machinery out there.

If you ever change your mind, I will be the first to welcome you back.

You do not have to work on them to be a member of the vintage sewing machine club. I have many vintage machines that just got a cleaning and oiling and now are used. That's nothing but normal maintenance.

But come on back when you feel like it.

Joe

Almost every one of them I have bought cheap has needed some sort of work or another. Working on machines by no means is for everybody. We do try to help those who want to try. There are repair places that do wonders on those old machines. There are occasional machines that do work from the get go and are great machines to use. On the other hand I have had no luck at all with the modern plastic wonder machines or sergers.

I feel your pain. Some basic maintenance I can deal with but a complete refurb just holds no interest for me. Ask me how I know. I'm in the process of working out having another local qb member do one on a machine that I picked up last year that needs a bit more work than I'm really interested in doing. Could I do it? Probably. Do I want to? Not really. Doesn't mean that I don't like vintage machines. I have a FW that I do use occasionally. I'll be re-homing a 15 shortly. If I had the room, I'd probably keep it but space is just too much of a premium here. I do want the 66 refurbed so I can put it in my g'grandmother's table/case. Otherwise I'd have let that go as well.

I love my olds machines. Luckily my dh does the maintenance for me. Enjoy sewing.

I've given up the searching and restoring and I'm thinning out the herd. But - I still love my FW for quilting retreats and my hand cranks! (And the 401, 201, the 99...) I don't post much but like like to come and look at all the pretty pictures!

I am also blessed with a DH that loves vintage machines. he cleans, fixes and thinkers and I use them.

The maintainence is enough for me, as well. I do love my FWs, my 15-91, my 66, my 27, my 99. Oh dear, I do have a herd!

I did not know you could opt out of the club---------Not that I would ever consider it. I find them -give them over to my brother for re-hab then we will use them til we find a proper home for each of them. We love doing this. We even rescue the newer machines.